It Feels Like Home
by teenieboppertv
Summary: Letty is back home in LA without her memories. She's quickly falling for Dom, but she's worried that after all she's been through, being in love with someone she just met might not be the best idea. Can talking to the team help her understand why falling in love with Dom comes as naturally as breathing to her? Set after FF6 during the family BBQ.
1. Chapter 1

Letty is back home in LA without her memories. She's quickly falling for Dom, but she's worried that after all she's been through, being in love with someone she just met might not be the best idea. Can talking to the team help her understand why falling in love with Dom comes as naturally as breathing to her? Set after FF6 during the family BBQ. Letty/Dom/Brian/Mia

**Chapter 1 **

It was Sunday, which meant that everyone would soon arrive at what Dom had explained was he and Letty's house for their traditional family barbeque. Letty allowed her dark hair to cascade down her back and rest over her black undershirt. She hadn't wanted to pull her hair back today, despite the summer heat. She liked it this way. It coincided with how she'd been feeling lately, wild, as if the burden of life or death no longer weighed down her small shoulders.

Despite her new found freedom, Letty struggled silently with herself, torn in a battle between her heart and her head. She wanted answers. She needed to know why her emotions were tossing her around as if she sat in a row boat on the sea in the middle of a hurricane.

Her soulful, brown eyes lingered through the kitchen window as she washed the cooler that would soon be filled with ice-cold Corona's. Methodically, she watched the handsome man, built like a professional wrestler, as he prepared the grill with his smaller, yet adorable, blue-eyed best friend/brother-in-law. She studied the breadth of his shoulders and the curve of his chest and she noted that he was nearly twice her size. Her brow furrowed with so many questions. How in the hell could she have forgotten him? Why did he love her so much? What made him place all bets on convincing her to come back home with him? And why had she put all of her faith in him when he'd asked her to? Dom fascinated her and it seemed that everything she learned about him only caused her to want to learn more.

Letty had known Dom for all of six weeks, at least in her mind, but in that time he'd managed to garner complete loyalty from her. She felt a deep need to protect him with a passion that she hadn't felt in the sum of the previous year she remembered. In short, she would kick anyone's ass who attempted to hurt him. Despite her small stature, she knew she could.

But it was the deeper feelings beyond loyalty that Letty felt for Dom that caused her to toss and turn in her bed at night. It was an emotion stronger than friendship and laced with attraction that had crept into her heart and threatened to make her lose all sense of rational thought. Just in the past two weeks, she'd spent hours staring at the ceiling of her freshly painted room, that had once belonged to Mia, contemplating the man who'd turned her whole world around and kept her grounded to it at the same time.

She thought it was crazy that she could feel this committed to and this safe with a man she barely knew given the time she'd spent traveling with Shaw. Shaw had demanded respect. He'd bought loyalty with money and threats, but across twelve countries and a full year, she'd never actually been prepared to kill anyone who'd thought to hurt him, and she'd questioned her willingness to allow herself to be harmed defending him.

Letty's draw to Dom was markedly different, and she saw with her own eyes that his entire team shared her resolve. It couldn't have only been because he'd saved her life, although she knew that had helped. But it wasn't just that. Even Ivory had knocked her out of the way of a bullet before. No, this was something else entirely.

On the surface Dom was simple. He loved his family, and his definition was broad, only requiring love, fidelity, respect, and an obsession with cars to qualify. He was quiet more often than not, choosing to let his actions speak for him. And when he loved, he loved fully, offering everyone that he loved, everything that he had to give. But Letty recognized his complexity underneath the surface. He lived by a code that all of his family seemed to understand. He'd lost many loved ones, including her for a time, and it had changed him and shaped his attitude. Most importantly, he didn't feel bound by ordinary convention, having decided that a life of crime was just as worthy as any other he might've carved out.

Letty placed the cooler on the counter and moved to the freezer to pull out a bag of ice. She pursed her lips in frustration. Her feelings were powerful and she felt them into her very being, but she couldn't make sense of them because logic dictated that she couldn't possibly love someone that she'd only met a month and a half ago, even if his name was Dominic Toretto.

Every day since she'd almost been murdered, she'd learned more about herself and how she fit into the world. She knew that she had an instinctual nature. She generally went with what she felt, but when she'd woken up in the hospital, unsure as to who she was or why she was there, she went against her instinct to flee and decided to trust Shaw, the only person who seemed to have even a tiny piece of information about her. But deep down she didn't like Shaw. Her gut told her that he was a bad guy. Her eyes told her that he didn't care about her or his team.

A year without memories had forced her to operate in a perpetual mode of survival. Her wits and unmatched skill with automotives alone had kept her alive and given her a sense of identity - she was the tough, racer chick with a mean streak, - but she hadn't had any time to figure out why she was making the decisions she made. She hadn't had any time to think about anything that wasn't how she was going to make it from one day to the next.

Now, in LA, Letty was nestled safely in the middle of a team that spoke and acted and believed themselves to be a family. No matter which direction she turned, she was surrounded by protective, kind faces. Whenever she searched, she found Dom nearby. He'd clearly proven that he was willing to die at a moment's notice if it meant that she could live, or in the alternative, an idea that Letty only occasionally allowed herself to fully comprehend, was willing to die right along with her rather than live without her again.

If she turned her head in the opposite direction she'd find Mia. To Letty, Mia was a pretty, smart woman with a motherly nature that radiated from her. Whether Letty had intended for it to happen or not, Mia intended to take care of her in all things domestic. She'd made it clear that Letty was home and she'd done everything she could to make sure the house was suitable for family. Mia also had a strong, protective quality that Letty admired and it immediately had afforded the slightly younger woman Letty's unwavering respect and affection. It was under these conditions that Letty discovered another side to herself that was full of care and compassion.

Letty gathered from what Dom and everyone else around her said that he and she had been very much in love and that she was the love of his life. Just by looking at Dom, she knew that what everyone said was true. He loved her. Period. There was no question, not even a speck of doubt. She felt it come off of him in every movement, every word. And there was something about the strength of his devotion, the sheer power of his commitment that had caused her to trust him fully. It was strange, but she felt like she could see past any nonsense and right into his core. It was almost as if she could see into his soul. It was this sight that made her feel like she belonged next to him. But still, her mind couldn't explain what her heart knew as fact, and she had no memories to justify it, so she fought against it.

"He's like gravity," Brian explained as he walked into the kitchen carrying a bag of charcoal.

Letty put down the bag of ice and shifted to face the cheerful blonde. She eyed him cautiously before she relaxed her shoulders and gave him a friendly smirk when she assessed the goofy grin on his face. She'd been caught staring at Dom and there wasn't any way around it.

Letty liked Brian from what she could tell of him. She suspected that what she liked most about him was his intense loyalty and unfettered love for Mia and Dom. Brian was all action. When he loved, he loved hard. Letty enjoyed that quality in a person.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"It's kind of hard to explain, but it's just his thing. He draws people in."

"Even you?" Letty asked with a grin.

Brian laughed with a wide smile that made his little boy features shine past the adult aspects of his face. Letty smiled too. "No, no, actually that was all Mia's doing. But Dom you know, it's kind of like once he lets you in, you never really want to leave."

Letty tilted her head to the side, contemplating Brian's words. Is that what happened to her?

Brian moved to the refrigerator and pulled out two beers, too impatient for her to prepare the cooler. Fitting. She'd forgotten to add impulsive to her list of traits she'd spotted in Brian.

"Then of course there's you... wherever there's a Dom, there's a Letty," he said as he fished in a drawer for a bottle opener. Letty felt her eyebrows raise with curiosity. Everyone around her had conveyed this same sentiment to her in one form or another, as if she and Dom were an inevitability. It made her wonder if there had been any outcome in London other than this one that ended with her in the Toretto house.

Brian's smile increased ten-fold. Whatever memory he wanted to tell her about made him happy. "There's no way, no way in hell I would've had a shot with Mia if you hadn't calmed Dom down about me dating his sister." Letty laughed and allowed herself to lean back onto the kitchen counter. She liked this side of Brian. He usually harbored such guilt about what happened to her that she'd questioned if they had had any time together that wasn't fraught with danger.

"Yep, it's like you're the only person in the whole world who can change Dom's mind without even trying." Brian handed Letty one of his two beers. She felt the cold glass against her hand and let Brian's words linger in her ears.

"Brian!" Mia called from outside.

"Uh oh, sounds like I'm in trouble." Brian moved for the refrigerator and pulled out two more beers. "Better bring these to appease the masses," he joked before heading for the door.

"Hey, Brian. Can I ask you something?"

Brian turned back toward Letty and stepped closer to her. "Anything," he confirmed.

"What made you choose them over being a cop?"

Brian paused in thought. Letty wondered if she'd crossed an invisible boundary that she didn't know existed. When she heard his voice again, she realized that she hadn't. "I guess I just felt like if you're going to be willing to give your life for something, it might as well be something that you believe in."

Letty nodded and watched as Brian made his way back outside to dote over his faithful wife.

Letty agreed with Brian. She decided that at least when she went, she would know what it was for.

Brian's words carried too much logic for her brain to argue with and she felt more at ease. Maybe being in love with Dom wasn't such a crazy notion after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, or added my story to your favorites. I appreciate you taking the time to read it! I hope you enjoy.

**Chapter 2**

Letty exhaled. It was time for her to head out to the front lawn to join Dom, Mia, Brian and Jack. She'd spent the last hour in the kitchen. She'd washed the dishes, straightened the cabinets, and cleaned out the refrigerator. Technically, Letty was helping Mia prepare for their guests, but more accurately she was avoiding Dom.

Letty wiped the counter for the third time before she stopped and gripped the sponge in her hand. She felt stupid. All morning the idea of being near Dom had sat in her mind and filled her with excited energy. Letty knew the second she walked outside Dom would touch her. It was the only thing she'd wanted for the past twelve hours since the last time he'd occupied her space and now she hid in the kitchen trying to avoid a simple truth. Namely, she adored whenever Dom's hands made contact with her skin.

Dom's touch sent a soft, electric pulse through her body that she remembered long after they parted and that she looked forward to each morning when she woke. So what was the big deal? Why was she postponing the thing she desired?

Letty shook her head. The answers were glaringly obvious to her. In just over a month, Dom had managed to go around most of her carefully constructed walls, leaving her in a weakened state. Letty had no practice with feeling weak and she had no idea what she should do about it. She always felt conflicted when it came to Dom because his presence pressed the bounds of what she thought she understood about herself.

Before she met him, Letty had decided that avoiding others hands whenever possible was the way to go. She'd figured that keeping her distance from other people could only help her survive, lest someone come along to try and hurt her again. Her hands-free zone had kept her alive as she hopped from one country to the next and she'd been more than happy to continue down that path.

Letty even knew the exact moment when she'd decided that she didn't like the feel of other people touching her. It was when she'd woken up in the hospital to the pain of a two inch needle being shoved unceremoniously into her arm.

"Shit," she'd complained to the figure standing over her as she opened her eyes to bright, angry lights and the sound of beeping machines attacking her senses.

The first shot had come from the hands of an older woman dressed in white who mumbled apologies and promises about how keeping still and letting the medicine take its course would help ease the sharp, stabbing sensations Letty felt all over her body. She'd lied.

The next set of hands to follow were even worse. Their rough jostling and too familiar hold came from a younger woman who identified herself as Letty's doctor two seconds before she proceeded to make everything hurt more from her so-called examination.

The free-for-all of unwelcomed contact continued for another two weeks before Letty was finally released into Shaw's custody. When she'd been liberated from the clutches of the doctors and nurses, she came to the conclusion that less was more when it came to human contact.

Letty had long accepted this part of her personality and she wasn't sure how Dom had managed to get by it, but she knew when it had started to happen. In London, when he'd shown up on her turf to challenge her to a race around Piccadilly Square, she'd been so curious about him that she couldn't help but to stand before him unarmed and defenseless just to learn why he'd gone to so much trouble to track her down.

It was the way his eyes burned into her, Letty remembered, that caused her to forget her caution and to allow him to invade her space and touch her for the first time. He'd made her breathless with the delicate precision that he'd used when he'd taken her arm between his fingers to explain the scar on her wrist. His low voice seemed to lull her into a trance and she wasn't sure if she was awake or dreaming as he carefully brushed back her hair to reveal a scar on her shoulder and under her tank top that hadn't been visible with the naked eye.

Dom had made her laugh, something that she hadn't done in a year, and she decided to play along as they explored her body together. She'd even found the game they played fun, and not wanting to be bested, she challenged the boundaries of their intimacy by revealing a scar dangerously close to territory that she wondered if (and if she were being completely honest with herself hoped) he'd tread. "Alright, how about this one?" she had teased, lowering her jeans just past her hip. She was sure she'd won that round and she waited triumphantly for his reply.

But Letty hadn't expected the reverent way that his thumb applied feather light pressure when he touched the scar, as if the memory of that scar were somehow more sacred than the others; as if he too were in a trance at the sight of her uncovered skin just below her navel.

From then on, she'd become increasingly aware that there was just something right about having _Dom_'s hands on her.

Letty released her sponge. She was tired of avoidance. It did not suit her. She squared her shoulders and headed for the door, making a promise in the back of her mind. She would not melt into a puddle the minute Dom reached for her.

"There she is," said Dom's unmistakable bass-toned voice when he saw her approach. She didn't want Dom to know how the sight of him affected her, so she quickly warped her involuntary smile into a challenging smirk.

Like almost everything she did, Dom seemed to know exactly how to interpret her expression and he let out an amused laugh. Just as Letty had predicted, and quietly looked forward to, Dom outstretched his strong arm and Letty accepted his invitation into a hug. He pulled her to him with gentle force and she felt her body mold into his all-encompassing form. There was a groove in his chest that matched her shape and size perfectly and she knew that it was only a matter of time before she would dare to discover what it was like to rest there throughout the night.

Letty let her arms reach around Dom's back and she stood on her tiptoes to allow her head to see over his shoulder. His sturdy hand found her hair and he expertly slid his fingers across the base of her neck to draw her in closer. His movements were delicate and honed from what she only imagined had been years of knowing how to touch her; everything about him was patient and careful. His face hid into her dark hair, breathing her in, before he slowly pulled her back from him and examined her eyes. Letty felt her resolve slip. What had she promised herself again?

Dom studied her eyes with intense concentration. Letty wasn't sure, but if she had to guess she'd say that he was reading her mood, trying to gauge how she felt, and most importantly, he was asking permission to continue to handle her like this.

She took in a reading of her own. Like any other time, she could see into him and she saw that he wanted her. That was as clear as the sun shining in the sky, but with some effort he seemed to fight letting her know about his desire to take her (Letty was pretty sure) into his bed.

From the many things she'd been able to piece together about Dom, the most obvious to her, aside from the fact that he loved her more than his own life, was that he hadn't wanted to scare her, not with his love nor with his desire for her. Letty found the fact that he let her pace the tenor of their relationship to be incredibly sweet.

"Thought you might've run away to Mexico," Dom said.

"Well, I figured I'd eat first," Letty retorted.

She gave Dom a full smile, unable to repress it this time. Dom smiled back and pulled her toward him again, placing a kiss on her forehead. He read her with shocking accuracy. Did he already know just how close he was to winning her over?

"You sure you're okay with everyone coming over today?" Dom asked, his hand still resting in her hair.

"Yeah." Letty shrugged.

Dom tightened his eyes. He didn't seem to buy her normal nonchalance. "Listen, we could always forget about it," he said.

"Now you know Mia would not be cool with that. I think she's been looking forward to this since we touched down in L.A."

"Letty..."

Letty saw that he was worried. She leaned into his hand. "I'm fine, Dom. I can handle it. I feel safe here. I'm sure it'll be fun."

Dom's mouth tilted upward in the corner and he nodded before dropping his hand. Letty paused. She wasn't quite ready to leave him. She pressed her body into his chest again and felt his hands return to her, wrapping around her waist. Dom leaned down and placed his lips gently against the exposed skin on her shoulder, causing her entire body to ignite. Letty's breath caught with the gesture. She hid her smile in his chest and tried to ignore the way her heart quickened with excitement. Dom's touch was a far cry from the merciless hospital staff that had greeted her when she woke up from her coma.

"Stay strong, girl," she scolded herself, but Letty was smart enough to know she was fighting a losing battle. Who was she kidding?

Clarity crashed into her with the speed of a car wreck. At the risk of looking weak or not, she was helpless against resisting this feeling.

She was saved at the sound of what she recognized as two very expensive engines pulling into the driveway. Letty turned and saw Tej and Roman getting out of their cars.

"What up, boy...lil mama?" Roman called from the driveway.

Letty pulled away from Dom's embrace. He was slow to let her go this time. She reached for his hand and gave it a light squeeze. She hoped he would understand it as a promise of her return. Was there really any question?

She took in a breath to clear her head before she walked over to welcome their friends.


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, followed, or added my story to your favorites. Your reviews have been thoughtful, helpful, and encouraging. I really appreciate you sticking with my story.

I received a question about my update schedule. I promise that as soon as I have that worked out, I will let you know.

Thanks again for reading.

**Chapter 3**

Letty walked down the driveway. She wanted to calm down. She hated not being in control of her emotions. The same rush of adrenaline that coursed through her blood after she won a race now beat through her veins, but this time, Dom had caused it. If she couldn't trust herself to keep her cool, then how in the hell was she supposed to trust anything else?

It was pathetic. The day had just started and her feelings already had her stomach twisted in knots.

Letty relaxed her shoulders when Tej and Roman approached. They were always fun. Letty appreciated that Dom was a master at choosing who he let be around him.

The two men walked in her direction and Letty gave them a nod. They were dressed for the summer heat, one in black, the other in white. Their clothes matched their feuding personalities.

"Letty, can you please tell this fool over here that an electronic fuel injection is superior to a classic one?" said Tej.

"And can you tell this man that the ladies always appreciate the classics," replied Roman.

Letty laughed. She truly enjoyed Roman. He was the funniest person she'd ever met and he never failed to think on his feet. He seemed to get the urgency of life, always living in the moment, just in case it was his last, she figured.

Without a doubt, he was deeply loyal to Brian. There was a kinship there, a brotherhood, that Letty hadn't seen form, but that she understood all the same. It was the same feeling she'd felt come off Mia the moment she talked to her face to face for the first time.

And it wasn't just that Roman loved Brian that made Letty like him. Roman had willingly extended his unbreakable love for Brian to Mia and Dom, and he seemed to have no hang ups about bringing her into the fold. After all, he'd risked his life to bring her back, and Letty felt he deserved nothing less than her total respect.

Letty let her eyes fall onto the smaller of the two men. She also really liked Tej. Even in Europe, she saw that he was kind-hearted and smart. He'd offered her his help from the minute she'd met him, giving her stats on the best places to sell the cars she'd won racing. He'd gone as far as to suggest upgrades that had increased their value before she sold them off to make sure she got the most money before they headed back to the states.

Letty loved to talk shop with Tej. She liked his opinion on the relationship between a car and its owner. "A commitment, a bond, like a marriage," he would explain.

Letty had never known Roman or Tej before London and that fact made her happy. To them, Letty was who she was. Neither man had any memories of her which meant that she never had to worry that one of them might compare her to who she was before her run-in with Braga's men, not that Dom or Mia ever did. In fact, the Torettos almost never pointed out any differences with how Letty used to be to how she was now, unless she asked them a direct question about the past.

But the fear sat in Letty's mind like an annoying song that she couldn't shake. Letty's past self seemed like a hell of a woman. If she were to believe what Dom and Mia told her, then who she was: fixed cars during the day; kicked ass on the racing scene at night; tamed male egos the size of the state of California; let her best friend cry on her shoulder over anything from losing her parents to having her heart broken by her idiot boyfriend; loved like her life depended on it; and defended the Torettos to the death. How could this version of herself compete with that, especially now with no memories to guide her through?

The problem for Letty was that Dom thought she was the same. He'd told her as much, more than once.

It wasn't such a crazy leap in logic. She still loved cars, something Mia told her she'd been into since she was ten years old. She'd fought on their team when Shaw had threatened to kill Mia. And she and Dom seemed to have an understanding that didn't require many words. She imagined that they must've operated like that for years.

Letty guessed this was why Dom had been insistent, adamant even, in his belief that she hadn't changed, but that didn't settle Letty's concern. It still bothered her that maybe she wasn't quite what he'd expected when he'd asked her to return to L.A. with him.

Letty was sure that she did and said things that the old version of herself probably never did or said. And it didn't help that Dom was always staring at her like she was the most fascinating woman on the planet when she knew for a fact she wasn't.

At one in the morning the night they'd arrived in L.A., Letty had decided to confront Dom about her fear. She hadn't been able to sleep. It wasn't so much that she was in a new place; Letty had plenty of experience sleeping in new places. It was that a million thoughts plagued her mind. In particular, she hated the idea that Dom might not know exactly who he'd risked his life for and she felt an incessant need to set the record straight.

Maybe it was the quiet of the night or the stillness of the air, but Letty found it easier to talk to Dom under the cover of darkness. She didn't know how he would react to her sudden announcement or to being woken up in the dead of night, but she thought that he should understand that this was who she was now, just in case she needed to start to look for another place to live, on the off chance that he couldn't accept her.

Letty threw back her sheets and traipsed down the hall of the second floor. She wore grey sweatpants and a white undershirt, two of the few items she'd brought with her from Europe. Her bare feet took ten uncertain steps across the hardwood floor causing it to creak with the pressure. She stood with her hand perched in front of Dom's door. What exactly did she plan to say? Letty hoped it would come to her in the moment. The door swung open before her knuckles made contact with the wood.

A shirtless Dom stood in the doorframe, his brow creased with a look that Letty readily recognized as concern. She took in a quick breath. Her mind wandered from her task as her eyes stopped to take in his form. Letty felt her face go flush and her emotions mix, changing from stubborn determination to lust in ten seconds flat. Did he always sleep shirtless? Had he been awake too? Had he needed to talk to her the way she needed to talk to him? Had he missed her the way that she'd missed...?

Letty wanted her mind to focus. She channeled all of her feelings into the one she knew the best, anger.

"Letty, are you-"

Dom's gentle voice almost made Letty back down, but she was having trouble controlling her thudding heart as she stood in Dom's bedroom doorway. Her divided energy guided her words.

"Look, you know I'm never going to get my memories back, right? So if you think that I'm going to be the same as I used to be, you're wrong."

Letty wasn't sure why she felt so defiant. Maybe it was because the same night air that had made her bold enough to talk to Dom about her fear had also helped her realize the huge risk she'd taken when she got on the plane with him. Could his love really be as unconditional as it seemed? Or would he soon find out that the girl that he'd loved so recklessly really did die a year ago somewhere near the Mexican border? Would he wake up from the shock of seeing her again and wish that he'd left this version of her racing through the streets of Europe?

Dom stood very still and looked Letty straight in the eye as she spoke. He didn't interrupt and waited for her to finish before he calmly reached for her hand. She didn't pull away, having become used to this reaction from him. It was Dom's habit to reach for her whenever she was within touching distance. His warm hand easily enveloped hers. Dom rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand and instantly Letty felt the comfort she was sure he meant to offer her.

"Your heart's the same. Everything about it is the same. That's all that matters. I'd know if it wasn't," he said. Letty examined Dom with the same fascination that she always caught him watching her with. Had they only spent one lifetime together?

Slowly, Dom brought Letty's hand to his chest and laid it flat to the center left just above his heart. "I'd feel it, here," he said. Letty stopped breathing.

She and Dom were all that mattered. She felt her body urge her to stay there with him for the rest of the night. Letty was small. Surely, there was enough space for her in his bed. She wanted, no needed, to continue to feel his heartbeat beneath her skin. She needed to tell him that she believed him, that she trusted him, that she …

An entirely different fear replaced the original one.

"You look a bit tired. Why don't you get some rest," was all Letty managed.

After that, she'd promised herself to try and not worry about being compared to the past. But Letty knew that she and promises with herself weren't always compatible, at least when it came to Dom.

Letty returned her attention to Roman and Tej. "You know boys, it's like Tej always says, your relationship with your car is personal. It's really just up to you," she said. Roman shook his head at her.

"Let's get with it," he said in the same breath. He clearly hadn't been too disappointed with her answer. "I got a date later on tonight."

Tej sighed. "Not another set of twins like the last two, please."

"What? You don't like my girlfriends?" asked Roman. "I'm just trying to improve my life."

Letty rolled her eyes. She'd seen some of Roman's girlfriends. As if sleeping with skanks could possibly improve anyone's life. She looked behind her at Dom. She knew that he and Roman used to have the same trait in common.

Letty shook her head at the thought. On an entirely different night, Dom had confessed some of the rough spots in their relationship that had included his vomit-worthy behavior with some trashy women named Monica, Camille, and some tramp named Jenny Tran. This was during what Dom had called "the dumbest time in his life." Having not wanted to sprinkle sugar on top of bullshit, Letty preferred to sum up what he told her as the times she'd either left Dom, should've left Dom, or should've punched Dom in his face.

"If you want to improve your life, you should probably start by leaving those skanks alone," said Letty.

"Look Letty, I'm not trying to be like my boys over there," he said, gesturing to Brian and Dom, "buying top-of-the-line models with customized upgrades. I prefer to lease, or better yet rent."

Letty and Tej laughed. "Yeah man, but I'm going to have to agree with Letty on this one. Cause your last couple of models looked like they came from the junkyard," said Tej.

Letty laughed harder. Roman gave Tej a dirty look. "That's not funny. Nah, Letty, I can't believe you are over here laughing at this man. It's definitely not that funny." Roman crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ah, don't be mad," she said, still trying to control her smile. Roman shook his head.

"Look, the truth hurts," offered Tej.

"Wrong, both of y'all are wrong for that," said Roman.

"But for real, man, you are way better than some money-chasing skanks. I'm serious," said Letty. She didn't like the idea of her friend wasting his time with unworthy women. Roman transformed his anger into a stoic expression. He nodded his head.

"Well, let me go speak to the rest of the family," he said, before heading toward Brian and Mia who were playing with Jack.

"You think we hurt his feelings?" Letty asked Tej.

"Hell no. He knows what kind of girls he likes to pull. He's just being dramatic, per usual," said Tej. Letty nodded. She decided to take Tej's word for it.

"So, I see you've got a new ride," Letty said, eyeing one of the most beautiful ten-second cars she'd ever seen. It was an import, not her first choice, but its custom paint and hand crafted rims made her brow twitch nonetheless. A few more seconds and Letty knew she'd be able to look under the hood.

"I do and I will definitely let you check it out, but first..." Tej pulled out his phone. "I've got those specs ready for your new V8," he said. "You want to look at them now or after we eat?"

Letty tightened her eyes. "What specs?"

"The ones Dom asked me to draw up for you? Ah damn, was it a gift or something?"

Letty pursed her lips. She was clueless. Was it a gift?

"Well, let me see what you came up with," she said.

"We've got a cool air intake, direct port nitrous injection, and a standalone fuel management system." Tej beamed. Letty looked at the layout. It was beautiful. It was everything she would want to build into a car. But why would Dom have asked Tej to design her a custom engine?

Letty wasn't quite sure how she should react. She loved the design, but she hated the idea of Dom buying her a gift. She was not that girl. She sure as hell wasn't like one of Roman's car fresheners of the week. Letty did not require or expect bling or presents to make her stick around. If she stayed, it was because she wanted to. Hadn't Dom realized that about her by now?

Letty's stomach sank. Or, did she used to be one of those girls? That didn't seem to match what she'd been told about herself. But was this one of those times when who she was really didn't fit with who she is? How in the hell was she supposed to figure this out?

She could just ask Dom. He told her everything else she wanted to know. Why not this?

Had he not mentioned it just because he was trying to do something nice for her? Looking at Tej's specs, she had to admit that it was a pretty perfect something.

"Ahh, damn, this fool is going to set the house on fire," said Tej. Letty looked at Roman trying to tame a huge flame that shot up from the grill that he now manned. Someone had thought it was a good idea to leave him in charge of it. Letty gave Tej a small smile and nodded as he went over to save his best friend from himself.

Letty headed for the cooler. She needed a Corona. She still enjoyed beer. At least that was one thing she was sure hadn't changed about herself. As for the rest, her guess was as good as anyone else's.


	4. Chapter 4

Hi. I want to thank everyone who is following/adding to favorites my story or who left a review. I'm so sorry for the long delay in my update. I've been out of town and I didn't have a chance to write. I appreciate you for sticking with me. I am so grateful for you reading my story.

Thanks again.

**Chapter 4**

Letty held her beer in her hand and watched the party from the porch. Dom's eyes found her every few minutes, but he didn't come to her. He seemed content just knowing that she was nearby.

Letty took a swig of her drink. She needed a plan. There was an art to talking to Dom. Through trial and error, she had learned to respect the influence she had over him. She had the power to hurt him and she did not want that.

Letty ran through how she might deal with Dom's gift. Her first step might be to talk to Mia. They had a good relationship and the younger Toretto had been happy to field any problem Letty brought her way.

Although, instead, Letty could just have some more beer. Maybe the answer had sunk to the bottom of a Corona bottle. She could already feel a small buzz start to form in her head and she was ready to test her theory with Dom's favorite drink.

That was a bad plan. Experience guaranteed it would only end in a hangover.

Or, what if she just ran away?

If Letty ran, she could just forget about Dom and his team and go back to her life as she'd been. Hell, she could even start a new life. A life where there was no new Letty and old Letty. She could go someplace where she was just Letty.

This plan felt logical, smart even, except for the fact that it wasn't. It was flat out stupid.

Letty shook her head, upset with herself for even considering this as an option. Forget that Dom had come back into her life? Right. Because that was so easy.

Letty's time for running away had passed. Slowly, Dom had closed her window of opportunity to walk away with each look, each caress, and each unspoken and spoken promise.

Not to mention, not too long ago, she'd already tried to walk away from him without a word. That failed attempt had ended with Letty and Dom entering into a seemingly unbreakable agreement.

Their deal had been struck with four words and the terms were simple: neither of them would walk away from the other without a heads up. To leave without notice now, Letty would have to betray Dom's trust in her. Letty, new or old, was a lot of things, but disloyal was not one of them.

Her promise to Dom had come in a roundabout way the night Letty learned about Dom's own betrayal of her trust. That day had started out the same as any other. The sun blazed in the L.A. sky like it always did, but there had been a breeze that lessened the harshness of the heat. Dom had invited Letty to work in the garage with him. He needed to replace the fuel line on the Charger. Letty liked the feeling of being around Dom, and she loved the peace that working on cars brought her, so she had agreed.

Dom worked under the hood while Letty lay on a flatbed. She firmly gripped a wrench in her hand and made adjustments under the car. Her hands had been soaked in engine grease, and she used what used to be her white undershirt as a rag.

She'd pulled her hair up into a loose ponytail to have a clear view of her work, and she ignored the beads of sweat and grease that stained her face; Letty didn't see the point in wasting time with small things.

Working on the car made Letty happy and she and Dom worked in a comfortable silence. How had they ever been separated to begin with? It was her experience that Dom answered any question she asked him. So, then was as good of a time as any to find out.

Letty rolled out from under the car and lifted herself from the ground. "Hey, Dom, you told me that we were in the DR before I met Braga, but I don't get it. Why didn't I just come with you when you left?"

Dom put down his ratchet. He took three steps toward her and closed the space between them. He leaned his back against the car window. He seemed like he didn't want to box Letty in. Letty watched Dom carefully, bobbing her head from one side to the other. She tried to guess what he might say. Dom's ease disappeared, and an invisible weight sunk his shoulders.

It was a long time before he spoke. Letty straightened her back and steeled herself for whatever it was he wanted her to know. "I left the DR while you were sleeping, so you couldn't follow," he finally said.

That night, Dom left Letty alone with her thoughts, a condition that she had preferred not to be in. She paced the floor of her room and the sound of the creaking floorboards only worked to tighten the muscles in her arms and piss her off. Letty played the facts of what had gone down over in her mind. Dom had walked away from her without a warning in the dead of night and his decision had set Letty up to make one of her own that almost got her killed.

How was she supposed to feel? Hurt, angry, indifferent? If he could betray her at a point when she had so much trust and faith in him that she was willing to risk prison or death to be with him, then how was she supposed to believe in him when her faith was shaky at best and she took trust one day at a time?

A cruel hour of unrest passed with these thoughts pressing on her chest until Letty had had enough of her emotional overload. She shoved her feet into her boots, threw on her jacket and made her way outside to her Plymouth. She climbed into her car and drove. She didn't care where she was going, she just wanted to get away.

Letty liked the way it felt to have her hands gripped tightly over the leather steering wheel. The roar of her V8 engine purred in her ears like a familiar song, and for the first time in a year, she felt completely in control of her destiny. She drove until sandy dirt replaced the bright city lights in her view, and the highway markers pointed her further and further away.

She watched the colors in the night sky fade into nothingness and she absorbed the silence that surrounded her with greedy desire. She felt free. Free of questions. Free of doubt. Free of Dom?

Letty stopped the car with a hard push on the brakes. She pulled to the side of the road and rolled down the windows to allow the night air to reach her lungs that suddenly felt tight with need. Why was she running? Was it really because Dom had once abandoned her in a paradise villa in the Dominican Republic? Hadn't he earned her forgiveness? Been willing to give his life to correct his mistake?

Letty took in another gulp of air. She was disappointed with Dom for trying to make her do something she didn't want to, but that's not why she ran. None of this was entirely Dom's fault. She was partly to blame.

Her love for him had once made her do something as crazy as go undercover for a dangerous drug lord. The only explanation that made sense was that Dom must've held her entire heart in his hands. When he'd left her in the DR, he'd taken her heart with him. Letty thought of how hard it would be to live without your heart. A person wouldn't be able to breathe, or sleep, or move.

Would Letty ever let love rule her like that again?

She wasn't sure, but what she was sure of was that love ruled Dom. When he'd explained his actions, Letty had watched his eyes as they followed her reaction. Dom had stared at Letty with desperate need. He had searched her face for compassion, forgiveness, maybe even love. This was a man she'd literally seen walk through fire, but confessing his fury-provoking mistake in front of her, he had looked terrified.

In those moments, he'd seemed completely breakable. His entire body had tensed as if he waited for a deathblow to the chest, like he was trapped in a Bruce Lee movie. It scared the shit out of Letty that she was the one who could deliver it. Whether Letty was ready or not, she held Dom's heart in her hands. He had irrevocably handed it to her long before she realized he existed.

Could she do to him what he'd done to her? Walk away? And not even with nearly as noble (even if stupid) reason as trying to protect him. Letty had no cause to hurt Dom, even if in the past he had hurt her.

Every day that Letty spent with Dom made it easier for her to see why she had been so devoted to him. She could see just how easy it could be to need him. And that explained why she sat on the side of the road an hour and a half from Tijuana.

She released the steering wheel and pressed her head against her seat back. Letty didn't know if or when she would forgive Dom for what he'd done in the DR. She didn't know if she would believe his vow to never try to dictate her life again. But she did know that she wasn't going to punish him with her absence.

Letty arrived back to the house just as the sun started to rise. She found Dom in the garage working on his car. He looked exhausted and his now grey t-shirt clung to his chest and sweat decorated his forehead. Had he been in there since she left? It wouldn't have surprised her if he had been. Engines calmed her too.

Letty walked up and stood with her back pressed against the garage wall. She folded her arms over her chest and waited. Letty knew Dom had heard her pull up, but he didn't watch her. He seemed to want to keep his distance and he looked afraid to break the calm that rested between them. Letty suspected that Dom knew there had been a real chance that she wouldn't return.

"Hey," she offered.

"Turn it over for me?" he asked. Letty lifted herself from the wall and moved to turn the ignition.

The engine made a sputtering noise and Letty cut it. Dom shook his head and sighed. "I'll keep trying, but I'm not sure how to fix it," he said, meeting Letty's eyes for the first time since she'd gotten back. Letty shifted. She heard it in his voice. Dom was really asking her a question. Can it be fixed?

Letty took in a breath. Whatever came out next would have consequences good or bad.

"We'll figure it out," she said. And just like that she'd made a promise. They both knew what her words meant. Running was off the table. She'd decided to stay and work it out.

All of the tension left Dom's face and he took in a shallow breath. It seemed like it'd been his first one in hours. He stood upright and squared his shoulders.

"We always do," he said. Letty nodded and went back into the house.

The first step after that for Letty had been to spend the next two days with Mia. It was her insight into Dom that had soothed Letty's nerves and calmed her fight or flight instinct. And Mia had promised that Letty could always come to her anytime she wanted.

Mia had helped then, and she would likely help now. Letty lifted herself from the porch and started to cross the lawn headed for her friend. She had a plan. First, she would talk to Mia, then, she would talk to Dom.

"...you better guard that big ass forehead."

Letty lifted her head at the sound of Hobbs returning Roman's taunt. Instantly, her eyes moved past him to see the beautiful, uniformed blonde standing at the foot of the driveway. Letty recognized the woman from her description. Letty's eyes found Dom and Dom's eyes found Elena.

Letty made a slight correction to her plan, first Letty would deal with Elena, then she would talk to Mia. Dom would have to come later.

She took another swig of her drink with a long breath. Nothing about this day was turning out like she had planned. Oh well, she'd made it this far, what was one more thing?


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, added to favorites, or followed my story.

For this chapter, I spent a long time thinking about Letty's reaction to Elena in FF6, and I wondered how she had arrived where she was emotionally. Poor Letty is going through so much, so I wrote this chapter with that in mind; everything is so complicated for our girl. This chapter is a little longer than the others, but please bear with me because Letty has a lot to work through, so I wanted to give her space to do that. Let me know what you think.

Thanks so much for reading.

**Chapter 5**

Mine. Before meeting Dom, Letty hadn't used the word often. She had no need to. Her personal belongings only consisted of four shirts, three pair of pants, two jackets, and a small knife; none of which she was particularly attached to. She hadn't ever stayed in one place long enough to feel possessive over anything. But Letty was possessive, whether she'd realized it or not.

Letty looked at the flawless blonde woman who stood in the driveway. Elena was different from how Letty had imagined. Her stance was softer, more gentle than Letty expected. She and Elena were opposites in that way. Letty was hard. She saved her gentle side for moments when she was safe and life wasn't trying to kill her.

Letty's tough exterior had served her well and Dom had more than understood this about her. In fact, he seemed to have expected and liked this about Letty.

Letty gave Elena another pass. Had Dom been different with her? How had he talked to her? Touched her? Held her? Made love to her?

Letty swallowed hard and pushed back against the agitation she felt crawling up her spine. Even if Letty didn't know the how, she certainly knew the why and most days she wished she didn't.

Elena was a threat to Letty in a way that Shaw had never been; but not just because she had held Dom's attention. No, it was that Elena's very existence forced Letty to come face to face with parts of her personality that she hadn't known existed and once she'd discovered she'd tried hard to bury. One of her strongest and most obvious traits being Letty's instinctive need to stake her claim.

Letty generally associated this trait with the dumb, insecure girls she saw on reality TV who put on huge tear-filled displays to show who was whose and whose heart belonged where. Letty thought those women were idiots, wasting their energy being jealous over the skanks who sniffed around their men (men who didn't give a shit about their girlfriends' feelings to begin with). And yet, that same jealous feeling she hated to see others show off had echoed through her from the moment she'd learned just what Elena meant to Dom. The hypocrisy of it all made Letty itch, but here she was, unable to shake the feeling despite her best efforts.

Dom could've loved Elena, would've loved her even, given a few more months. This fact bothered Letty to no end. What bothered Letty even more was that she was bothered at all. Letty was jealous of a woman she'd never met. The idea was too ridiculous to even entertain.

Not to mention, if Letty could just free herself of this fierce emotion of jealousy, then maybe she could ignore the quiet (but ever present) voice in her head insisting that sometime during their nights of hushed conversation, silent drives, and teasing games she had fallen in love with Dom.

Letty shook her head. She could already feel defeat. If freeing herself was what Letty was banking on to navigate her relationship with Dom then she was screwed.

Right now, all Letty needed was to get through this moment so that she could get back to the other, more important, problem she had with Dom.

There were so many reasons Letty needed to grit her teeth and bear whatever humility facing Elena cost her. Not the least of which being that in a strange way, Elena had brought Letty and Dom closer together. This was something Letty was grateful for and annoyed by in the same breath.

Before learning how close Dom and Elena had been, Letty had been good at controlling her feelings for Dom. She'd been able to place each emotion he stirred in her far out of reach. She'd even built a safe boundary around herself that Dom never tried to force his way through. Letty had let him in when she wanted to and shied away when she wanted to. In either mood, Dom seemed okay with her just being and Letty felt good knowing that she had her emotions carefully restrained.

Their understanding had left Letty sure that she was going to be able to safely drive around the friendship track with Dom for as long as she needed to, even though _more_ sat just beneath the surface. But in a single night and in a rush of unchecked energy, Letty lost her grip over her heart. It happened when she learned about how much Dom and Elena had cared for each other and every feeling that Letty thought she had under control barreled through her fortress and crashed to the surface.

It was Letty's fault really. If she didn't want to know something, all she had to do was not ask. But Letty thought that she'd been prepared for any answer Dom would give her. She was wrong.

On the night Letty was thrown from her comfortable bubble to where she and Dom now circled each other, Letty had been awake in her bed, unable to find sleep despite the late hour. In a faint voice, barely above a whisper, Letty heard her name.

Her name led her down the hall and into Dom's sparsely furnished bedroom.

"Hey, Dom. Dom wake up," she said perched on the side of his bed with her hand resting on his arm.

Dom woke with a start. He sat up, his forehead covered in sweat. Instantly, his eyes found Letty's.

"Letty, what's wrong?" Dom asked, seeming to put two and two together that she was watching him at his bedside for a reason.

Letty gave him a half-smile. "You called me, Papa," Letty said. She tried to use a joking tone. Dom's expression made her uneasy. Whatever had caused his nightmare had shaken his whole body and left him stressed out.

Dom pushed his sheet back and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He seemed disoriented and Letty watched him concerned.

"I called for you?" Dom asked.

"Yeah, you called my name…it sounded…you sounded like you were in trouble so I came," she said.

"Of course you did," said Dom nodding. Letty felt satisfied knowing that Dom had expected her to come when he called. That had never happened before. Why did that matter to her?

Letty waited for Dom to tell her about his dream. "Letty, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up."

Letty shook her head. "You didn't."

Dom reached and stroked his hand across her hair. A line creased his forehead. Letty guessed it was at the idea that she hadn't been asleep as late as it was. She accepted his affection, but she wanted him to stay focused. Letty worried about him. Whatever he'd dreamed about had frightened him. Though she doubted he'd admit it.

"From the looks of it, your dream didn't seem too happy," she said.

"Nah, it wasn't," was all Dom offered. Would he tell her what it was?

Dom turned on a lamp and got up from the bed. He moved to a small bureau that sat in the corner of the room and fished in the top drawer. He pulled out a white t-shirt and put it on. Letty felt her face blush. She hadn't registered that Dom only wore sweatpants to bed and she'd forgotten to reinforce the implied fully clothed boundary that she'd placed on them, but Dom had remembered.

Dom moved into the bathroom and splashed water on his face. Letty relaxed into her seat on the edge of his bed. She scanned the pictures that decorated Dom's dresser mirror and practiced matching the faces with the names she'd learned. Mia had shown her similar pictures. There was a group picture with Leon, Jesse, Vince, Dom and a young version of herself. Letty shook her head at how wild she looked in her faded jeans and white undershirt and her hair shuffled across her head. Beside that picture was one of Mia, Brian, and Jack. And next to that one was a small picture of a young boy around the age of four. Nico. Letty remembered quickly, Vince's son.

"So does that happen a lot?" Letty asked. "The nightmares?" It looked like Dom wasn't planning to tell her about it. Dom stepped out from the bathroom and stood in the door frame. He folded his arms across his chest and gave Letty a look that she could only describe as noncommittal.

This made Letty curious. He hadn't kept anything from her before. Why didn't he want to talk about this?

Dom watched her for a long time. Letty was used to this, but there was an added meaning to the way he stared at her. He looked relieved to see her. Letty stared back at him. She wasn't in any rush. She had all night and she wouldn't leave Dom's side until the tension in his shoulders had gone away.

Eventually, Dom spoke. "When you died…" Dom started. Letty sat up. She hadn't expected him to say that. But it made sense. What else would've made him call her name with such desperation?

"When I thought you'd died, I didn't sleep for months." In two steps Dom closed the space between them and he sat next to Letty on the bed. He seemed to need to tell the story with her near him. Letty liked that he'd returned to her side. She wanted to be near him.

"Every time I closed my eyes, I saw your face. Sometimes when you were happy, sometimes when you were angry, but mostly I just kept imagining you alone, on the side of the road dying because of me...and I wasn't there."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there, Letty." Dom's pain pulsed from him, and Letty felt it move through her. She nodded her head and raised her hand to his face. Dom leaned into her touch. "I didn't really know how to live without you. And..." Dom dropped his eyes from Letty's gaze.

"What?" she asked.

Dom hesitated. Did he wonder how much Letty could take in one sitting? How much could she take? She breathed in. "Come on. You can tell me," she promised.

"Sometimes I'd take risks that I normally wouldn't take just so maybe I wouldn't have to." Letty felt the first fissure form in the wall guarding her emotions and her annoying but familiar friend, fear, made its way to the surface.

"But things got better for you?" she asked. She'd hoped the answer was yes. Letty couldn't stand the idea that Dom had suffered without a break.

"Yeah, things got better when we moved to Spain," said Dom.

We. The word shook Letty with unexpected force. She had known about Elena. It was Brian who had brought her up in Europe when he'd asked Mia when they would pick Jack up from the safe house. Dom had told Letty in passing that Elena had been his girlfriend. But beyond this, he had been tight lipped on the subject, only reiterating that it didn't matter anymore because their relationship had ended the second he'd learned Letty was still alive. Letty had accepted Dom's answer at the time. But clearly there was more and Elena hadn't been one of Dom's passing hobbies.

"You mean you and Elena?" Letty asked. Something told her she shouldn't. She should stop while she was ahead. There was such a thing as too much information. Letty knew this first hand, but still she wanted to know. She braced herself for impact. Dom always answered her when she asked a direct question.

But Dom faltered and Letty started to get frustrated.

"So what's going on? I know there's a reason you don't talk about her." Letty tried to keep her voice calm. She didn't mean to make an accusation.

Dom sighed. "I don't want you to get confused, Letty."

Letty's imagination tried to take over. What was Dom not telling her? Had he loved Elena? Is that what he hesitated to tell her?

"So clear it up for me," Letty said with a shrug, still convinced she could handle this conversation.

Dom scanned Letty's body, no doubt measuring how serious she was. Letty raised her eyebrows, adamant that he tell her. So he did.

Dom filled in the details. Elena had shared quiet nights with him. She'd seen him like this. She'd understood his pain. She'd been there when nightmares woke him from his sleep. She'd listened to him explain his broken heart. She'd touched him and comforted him when Letty couldn't.

When Letty wanted to?

Letty felt the second crack form in her barrier faster than she could've anticipated. The emotion that broke through was stronger than the first. Jealousy. It stabbed at her. Letty cringed at the idea that she was becoming one of those girls on TV, but as much as she wanted to fight it she couldn't. Letty was jealous that another woman had shared a moment like this with Dom.

Why should Letty be so epically and unapologetically filled with envy for something that in theory was once hers and hers alone but, in practice, she didn't remember? Could Letty not stand the idea of not being the only one who he called to in the night? Did Letty want to be the one to field Dom's anger, Dom's passion, Dom's stubbornness, Dom's love at any hour? Yes. A voice screamed at her.

Dom studied Letty's eyes. He seemed to recognize the change in her. How had he known what her reaction would be better than she did?

"You don't have to tell me how you feel if you don't want to," he said, "but you gotta know there wasn't a single day that I didn't wish for you."

Even though Dom had revealed his mind, Letty felt exposed. Her heart beat fast beneath her chest. She'd led them here. She'd insisted on Dom's honesty. He trusted her with it. Now she had to deal. Dom needed Letty to be fair. Letty needed to be careful. She didn't speak for a long time. What should she say?

Jealousy, sadness, compassion, passion, desire, weakness and a strong need to protect herself all bundled together and pressed in on Letty. Her wall had been flattened. It was useless to her. Letty was overwhelmed. She needed to hide, but there was only one safe place where she could get to quickly.

Letty shifted from her seat and crawled into Dom's lap. He didn't question her or hesitate to receive her. Her legs rested on either side of his waist and her arms curled around his neck. Letty nestled her face into Dom's shoulder and his hand lay flat on her back.

"You're okay," Dom spoke softly into her ear. She wasn't sure if he said it for her benefit or for his, but Letty nodded, deciding that Dom's words were true nonetheless.

She surprised herself, but there was no true mystery to her behavior. She'd simply forgotten her caution and decided to feel her way through the moment. Without question, Dom needed to hold Letty and Letty needed to be held. She was safe. Nothing could possibly harm her from where she rested.

Letty relaxed her body and Dom gripped her loosely. His hand inched beneath the fabric of her shirt and he idly stroked her back, warming Letty's skin and absorbing her fear. Dom's other hand found Letty's neck and applied light pressure rubbing away the tension. She felt free to change her mind with their arrangement at any time and she was sure that's what he'd intended. But Letty didn't want to leave Dom's arms.

Mine. The word came to Letty in a flash and something shifted inside of her, in her heart. This moment was hers. Dom was hers. Whatever Dom and Elena used to have didn't matter anymore. Letty knew it, but she kept this to herself. None of this was anything Letty was ready to admit.

Letty would've let Dom hold her for the entire night, but in the interest of not losing herself in her feelings for him, Letty finally moved from his arms. With stubborn restraint, she found her way back to her own bed, their encounter having made her insomnia worse.

Letty had tried hard to rebuild the wall that that night had knocked down, but she failed at each turn. And facing Elena wasn't going to help.

It would take very little for Letty to reiterate her claim, but there was no need to inform Elena of what she already knew. There was no question as to where Dom's heart belonged.

Letty would swallow her instinct and push through this moment. If nothing else, Dom had earned Letty's cooperation and Elena had earned Letty's respect. Elena had protected Dom's sanity and understood his pain. She'd been there for him and then she'd stepped aside without protest. Was Elena really as noble as she seemed? Or did she simply know that there was no use to putting up a fight? Would Letty have been capable of so much grace?

Letty rolled her shoulders back and walked up to Elena.

"Elena?"

"Letty…"

What did Elena think of Letty? Was Letty how Elena had imagined? "I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for him, for us," Letty said. She meant it.

"Try to keep him out of trouble," Elena suggested. Letty laughed. Where was the fun in that? That wasn't anything Elena needed to worry herself with anyway. Letty liked trouble and trouble liked Dom. But Letty didn't need to say that.

"Now, we both know that's not going to happen."

"Yeah, I know."

Letty glanced over at Dom. He watched Letty and Elena talk. He seemed to trust her. Letty didn't know what he'd expected her to do.

"Good luck," Letty offered. With life? With her heart? Letty wasn't sure, but seeing as how she needed luck with those things, she figured she would offer it up to someone else.

Elena gave Letty a sad smile and Letty wondered if Elena resented her. Had she been happy with Dom? Had she wanted to spend forever with him? Letty could ask, but she wouldn't. She had learned her lesson about getting more information than she needed. Those were things that Letty would never know. Besides, those were questions Letty hadn't answered for herself.

Letty was done. As curious as she was, she was not going to stick around and watch Dom's possibly emotional goodbye with his former lover.

Letty gathered her pride and snuck away.


End file.
